從地獄來的校長

報載有非禮罪在身的田家炳小學前校長因涉嫌安排胞弟的工程公司取得學校工程合約而被控，令我想起朋友的故事。話說朋友任教的中學有次要更換電腦，負責的老師按程序招標，誰知招標還未結束，竟然無故有一批電腦送到學校門口。該名老師追問之下，發現校長原來早已決定光顧某電腦商，並落下訂單。校長着該老師安排文件，令整個過程顯得合法，該名老師不為所動，曰「如果出事我唔想上身」。最後如何解決，我的朋友也不甚了了。

以我個人有點偏頗的眼光來看，十個中學校長之中，起碼有九個是罪犯或變態。朋友每次向我吐苦水，都提起以下這篇原刊於南華早報的文章。雖然我覺得比起校長的問題，自以為是的教育官員及教育制度的崩壞更值得關注，不過也是時候讓不屬於教育界的讀者聽聽教育工作者的心聲了。

Principals from hell

Behind school gates, something is eating away at the teaching profession. In the hands of manipulative and controlling principals, the life of teachers has become pure, unadulterated misery. Throughout 10 years of reform, teachers have been working like dogs, and are not treated much better. The job has become alarmingly bureaucratic - with piles of papers to complete, reports to write that nobody reads and all manner of meetings to stretch the working day. At the heart of the crisis is the proliferation of non-teaching duties that are spreading like an unstoppable cancer.

Far from fighting the bureaucratisation of teaching, many principals have made it worse. Some seem to measure their leadership by the number of meetings they call or chair. Hardly a day goes by without teachers being sucked into long-winded, time-wasting talkfests where the same cliched ideas are rehashed to death. Ultimately, the principals pursue what they please anyway. If teachers are lucky, considerate principals may hold meetings during school hours by cutting back on class time. More often than not, meetings are held after school, lengthening the day and draining their energy. Those with young children feel guilty about neglecting them. There is a quip among teachers: "If you are not married, you will never be. And, if you are married, you won't stay so for long." Their long hours and heavy workload have made them poor parents and lousy partners.

The proliferation of non-teaching duties is mind-boggling. Almost every teacher has been finagled into doing outlandish or unrelated chores: preparing tendering documents, hunting for construction materials for school renovations, painting walls and supervising renovation workers, plus the humiliation of handing out promotional materials to passers-by. The more compliant a teacher, the more chores are heaped on him or her.

People used to be attracted to teaching because of long summer holidays. Not any more. Instead of giving teachers much-needed time to recuperate, some principals call them back to meetings in mid-summer. The growing trend is to prolong their in-school duties and presence, useful or otherwise. Previously summoned back to meetings in late August, teachers are now back in school 10 days before it opens. For panel heads, their summer holidays can be as short as 20 days.

Every meeting that takes place, however casual or small, must be recorded. And guess who writes the minutes? This frivolous use of teachers' time has reached epidemic proportions. No school activity goes undocumented, yet most of these reports sit gathering dust on shelves, unread.

All this is taking a toll on the quality of teaching. Exhausted teachers make poor mentors, simply because there is little energy left for the business of teaching. Catering to the demands of educationally benighted principals takes precedence over intellectually replenishing activities such as reading. No wonder bright and better-qualified teachers with occupational alternatives are deserting the profession in droves. Others flock to tutoring.

By now, you may be wondering: "Isn't there supposed to be a School-Based Management Committee to get things done democratically?" Well, yes, but certain cunning principals have developed an uncanny ability to bypass the system. Teacher representatives might sit on this high-sounding and well-meaning committee. But, to ensure things go their way, some principals are known to call "pre-meeting" meetings of teacher representatives to assign and rehearse what they will say at the committee. Teachers are moulded into docile creatures. Those who dare to differ with their principals are eased out.

Principals are supposed to have undergone training before assuming their post. But it seems that someone has forgotten to tell them that their primary duty is to assist teachers to perform better as teachers, not to treat them as their personal appendages.

A poor teacher can ruin a class. A misguided principal who thrives on being a creature of committees rather than a leader of teachers can ruin an entire school and all those who pass through.

Philip Yeung is a Hong Kong-based university editor. philipkcyeung2@yahoo.com